Spec Driven Development

What spec-driven-development does

The spec-driven-development MCP server organizes software work into three prompt-driven stages: requirements, design, and code. It is intended for projects where an agent should first turn a high-level application description into a documented specification, then use that specification to shape the design and implementation.

The first stage creates an EARS-format requirements document. The second reads that requirements document and creates a design document. The final stage reads the design and generates implementation code. The resulting file sequence provides a visible path from the initial request through the planned solution to the code output.

How it works

The spec-driven-development MCP server exposes prompts rather than a documented external service or data integration. Each prompt expects input from the preceding stage, with the workflow using fixed paths:

1. generate-requirements accepts high-level application requirements and writes specs/requirements.md.
2. generate-design-from-requirements reads specs/requirements.md and writes specs/design.md.
3. generate-code-from-design reads specs/design.md and writes implementation code in the project root.

For example, an application description can start the requirements stage; the generated requirements then become the input for design generation, followed by code generation. The server does not document alternate input paths or a separate configuration API.

Setup and configuration

Node.js 20 or newer is required. The documented installation method runs the package with npx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spec-driven": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-server-spec-driven-development@latest"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code uses the same command and arguments under its servers configuration key. The README also provides installation links for VS Code, VS Code Insiders, and Cursor, and identifies Claude Code as a supported installation target. No environment variables or additional service credentials are documented.

Tools and capabilities

The spec-driven-development MCP server provides these named prompts:

• generate-requirements: creates requirements in EARS format from a high-level description.
• generate-design-from-requirements: derives a design document from the requirements file.
• generate-code-from-design: generates implementation code from the design file.

Its main capability is enforcing the order of those artifacts. It does not document repository operations, issue tracking, deployment actions, or connections to external APIs.

Limitations and notes

The workflow depends on the expected files being available at specs/requirements.md and specs/design.md for the later stages. The server also requires an MCP-compatible client; the documented setup does not describe a standalone command-line workflow outside MCP configuration.